Blessed Oblivion
by SandwichesHinderProgress
Summary: Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling are living in Buenos Aires. When Will Graham finds out, he decides to go on a manhunt and stop Hannibal Lecter from committing his cannibalistic crimes once and for all.


**A Note On The Timeline**

Thomas Harris' novels are full of contradictions. In _Red Dragon_, dates are mentioned that point to the setting of the novel being the year 1980. It is also mentioned that Hannibal Lecter had been captured three years prior, in 1977. However, Dr. Frederick Chilton mentions that Hannibal savaged a nurse on July 8, 1976. This appeared have been a typo for 1978, but the date mentioned once again by Dr. Chilton in _The Silence of the Lambs_. This book takes place in 1983, as evidenced by Jame Gumb's birth year and age. In this book, it is mentioned that Hannibal has been in captivity for eight years, and that he killed his ninth victim Benjamin Raspail in March 1975.

The novel _Hannibal_ contains even more contradictions. In _The Silence of the Lambs_, Jack Crawford was fifty-three years old. In _Hannibal_, which is said to take place seven years later, Crawford is fifty-six. The book mentions events after 1990 such as Ruby Ridge. The epilogue of _Hannibal_ takes place "at the millennium" three years after the preceding chapters. This would mean that most of the story takes place in 1997. It is also mentioned that Hannibal was six years old in 1944, meaning that he should have been born in 1938. However, in _Red Dragon_, Hannibal writes his age on his toilet seat: forty-one. This means that he would have been born in 1939. According to the prequel novel, _Hannibal Rising_, Hannibal was born in 1933.

Since the timeline is very confusing, I have come to the conclusion that each novel takes place in it's own continuity. I have decided to just place this story in the year 2000 and mention events in a way that appears that they could have taken place in any timeline.**  
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**Chapter 1**

Will Graham walked down the white hallway of the hospital's second floor. He was states away from home. There was a patient that he needed to visit. At last, he found the room that he was looking for. He opened the door and entered. He closed the door behind him and sat on a chair.

There on a bed was Jack Crawford of the FBI. Will's old friend. His back was facing Will. Crawford moved in his bed. He did not turn to face Graham yet.

"Do I have a visitor?" Crawford asked.

"Yes," Graham answered. "It's me."

Crawford was surprised to hear his old friend's voice.

"Hello, Will. How was Christmas?"

"Good. We all stayed in and watched movies together."

"You, Molly, and Willy?"

"Yeah."

Crawford turned to face Graham. He was still lying down.

"Why did you come here, Will? Why didn't you just send me a get well card and leave me alone?"

"You're my friend, Jack. And as I remember, you didn't leave me alone all those years ago."

"Lives were at stake."

"And now your life is at stake. How are you feeling?"

"My chest doesn't hurt as much. There's been too much shit going on."

"I've been watching the news. I know about Lecter."

Hannibal Lecter. The cannibal that Will had caught all those years ago. Crawford did not want to mention that name to Will right now. He knew how upset the thought of Hannibal Lecter might make him feel. He went along with the conversation anyway.

"He hung a cop in Italy and escaped from the scene," Crawford explained. "Nobody knows where he is now."

"Someone's got to know. I heard about the murders at Muskrat Farm. Mason Verger really had it out for Lecter. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to torture him."

"You remember Verger?"

"How could I not. He was the one on the respirator."

"That son of a bitch was too damn ugly to look at."

"I am thankful that I did not end up looking like him when Dolarhyde cut me up."

Now Jack Crawford felt the guilt. Thanks to him, Will Graham ended up getting a cut on his face. The scar was still on Will's right cheek. It was covered by his facial hair. Francis Dolarhyde paid the price. He was shot by Will's wife.

"I am so sorry about everything, Will. I felt really bad when I saw you in that hospital. Lecter sent you a note that day. Molly had it. I read it. He said he hoped that you weren't very ugly. I knew that it would make you feel bad, so I burned it like you did with his Christmas card. I should have just left you alone, but I wanted help from the man I considered to be my protégé. Years later, I thought that Agent Starling could be my new protégé."

"Has she visited you?"

"Nope. Disappeared without a trace. I am worried about her. She was getting criticized for how she handled the Drumgo situation. Now she's gone. I think it had something to do with Lecter. He liked talking to her."

"He likes talking to people and making them feel bad."

"He was different around her. He wanted to help her. Jame Gumb took a longer time to find than it did to find Francis Dolarhyde. After Starling shot him, Lecter wrote to her. And then he wrote to her again a few weeks ago."

"Do you think that he might have killed her?"

Jack thought of this for a moment. If it had been anyone else, his answer would have been 'yes'. But this was Clarice Starling. People suspected that Hannibal Lecter was in fact in love with her.

"There's no telling what he did to her," Jack said. "I hope that she is okay."

The two of them talked about other subjects for a little while longer before Will left the hospital. He walked quickly down the hallways before he got outside. He breathed heavily. He was not used to seeing Crawford in the condition that he was in.

Weeks later, Jack Crawford had chest pains again. Rather than calling an ambulance, he rolled onto his dead wife Bella's side of the bed. He was happy with her. Graham would later attend Crawford's funeral and say few words about him.

"He was a fisher of men," Graham commented. "And he never assumed. He was smarter than that. He will be missed."


End file.
